I'm kind of suprised at how many people are choosing Smith over Eason. IIRC prior to the season, most posters here seemed to be in favor of the Rockets trading away Smith. Statistically, it's not like Smith made any noticeable progress in a year either. In fact, his statistical numbers across the board are very slightly down this season from the previous one.
But Tari has a leg issue that is limiting him, and may continue to limit him, he clearly gets worse with heavy play and he makes some bone headed stupid plays at terrible times. Bari is younger, taller, and is a better shooter - given Tari's issue and that he is playing a position that our BEST player Amen plays, he is the one that goes, for me. DD
I have grown to hate the JSJ v. Tari discussion. Right now, Tari is the better player, but is older. I'm not a doctor, but the time he missed in the last two years was when he was recovering from one injury that is unlikely to happen again. My understanding is that after this season, it should be healed (i.e., he played hurt, had surgery, then played during a year-long recovery from the surgery as bone healed from the graft). JSJ did look great at the end of the regular season. Not sure who will be better long term.
This is a tough one for me because of Tari's leg. Tari is equal to or better at everything compared to Jabari IMO. If he's fully healed, trains all summer (no rehab, no limitations) and is healthy going forward, I think there will be distance between the two that will surprise people. Jabari is very unskilled except for shooting 3-pointers. He can't dribble, doesn't pass well and doesn't cut or move without the ball very much (perhaps by design). He couldn't even post up Steph Curry. On defense, it became plain to me his foot speed and lateral speed aren't all that great; much slower than Tari's. His NBA ceiling is lower than I thought when he was drafted. Many here like to say, "when Jabari puts on muscle...". My response is he's always going to be thin and relatively weak because of his body type. Remember Jalen? Tari makes more dumb mistakes than Jabari, but he is more skilled and brings more aggression on both ends of the court every single game. Jabari's headspace issue is passiveness and doubting himself. Tari's problem is over-aggression on both ends. I believe he will learn and improve. Lastly, some here say Jabari being two years younger makes him more valuable going forward. I don't think this is necessarily true. At some point if he doesn't perform, people must come to grips with the truth: Jabari is not going to live up the the IDEA of Jabari we've had for him. After decent improvement from his rookie season, he flatlined last year. One could argue he regressed. If the Rockets make a trade, it'll be interesting to see which one stays. P.S: If Tari's leg remains a problem, it's a no-brainer to choose Jabari.
All true though I wouldn't characterize Bari as the better shooter. Bari is quite poor around the basket for some reason and their outside shooting is roughly the same. I would say if you had to pick I would trade Bari as being such a high pick you can get a lot more value for him. that said I would trade Green over either of them in a heartbeat. Presumably doctors would be able to provide the Rocks with a decent prognosis on the leg and yeah if it really is a chronic problem then it is a no brainer.
Jabari is a better all-around defensive player. When he left the starting line-up our defense went to sh*t. He is a better 3 pt shooter and has a better jumper. Jabari isn’t as kaotic on defense and doesn’t get as many steals, but he is seldom out of position or commits stupid fouls. Tari has injury concerns, and is 2 years older (yes that matters). Tari has better handles, but neither have much use for that skill and Tari very seldom exhibits that skill to make it a worthy comparison point. Jabari has also shown a pension for being clutch. Tari has shown the opposite. I love them both, but it is Jabari by a mile in my book. With a decent offensive coach Jabari would be a consistent 20/10 guy at 21 years old. Tari is a perfect bench guy that can spark a team with his energy. Being a starter he would not have the same impact and would probably foul out consistently.
Actually, Bari shot better than Tari from every range except 3'-10'. Bari is overall a more efficient (although not by a lot) scorer at higher volume. Tari has better handles getting to the basket. But he has a habit of missing point blank shots. That's why his at rim percentage is lower than Bari even though Bari is often perceived as not good at scoring inside. Tari is a much better offensive rebounder. But we already have two elite offensive rebounders in Amen and Adams. Tari is good at improvising but less steady in set plays. Defensively, they have different strengths and weaknesses. Tari is more disruptive but makes more mistakes. Bari is more reliable but less versatile. Overall, I'd say Jabari is slightly better than Tari. What we have not seen is how Tari would do if he was tasked to play heavy minutes every game. Would his burst of impact diminish if he had to expend more energy playing longer?
Bari's BPM is -0.7 Tari's is 3.6, Bari's vorp is .6 vs 2.0, Bari's DBPM is .1 vs 2.6 for Tari, his OBPM is -.8 vs 1.0. Bottom line is your evaluation is waaaay to friendly to Bari. On average he is *barely a net positive when he is on the court while Tari is *clearly a positive.
Eggs-actly. Jabari's larger salary also greatly affects matching the numbers in a trade. But all things equal, you keep Jabari and begrudgingly trade Tari.
Maybe the energy is an issue in a larger sample. However, playing heavy minutes typically means playing a larger percentage of one's minutes with the starters. Maybe having starters create for him will make him more efficient. Also, his offensive rebounds should be worth more with better players on the court.
I was mainly responding to your claim about Tari being a better shooter. That's just not true. I am aware of the advanced stats. They show that Tari has better impact on the court. But I don't have a lot of trust on stats based on plus-minus, especially comparing between starters and bench players. They typically play with and against different lineups. Play time is also a factor. It's easier to exert more energy in short spurts than if you have to play long minutes. One thing Tari clearly better than Bari is that Tari is a more active player. Bari's biggest weakness IMO is that he is too passive. I feel that he could do more if he was more active and more aggressive.
Yeah, his energy level on heavier minutes is still unknown. I hope that he is healthy enough next season to be on the court longer. (BTW, Jabari seemed to be quite effective coming off the bench after his injury.) I thought offensive rebounding was more valuable for worse shooting lineups. Tari missed a lot of point blank shots. But he also grabbed a lot of his own misses for put back. So his at-rim percentage and his offensive rebounding kind of cancel each other out. I don't remember seeing this kind of extreme profile since Moses Malone.
Offensive rebounding gets more rebounds with worse shooting making the worse shooting hurt less. Offensive rebounding with good shooting means fewer rebounds, but the offensive efficiency after an offensive rebound skyrockets with good shooting as the defense isn't set. If the Rockets get better shooting around Amen and Tari, the Rockets offense will be much better. Tari at the rim is a 63% shooter. Even though Tari is in the 50th percentile in rim efficiency, Tari at the rim is an incredibly efficient play. Getting offensive rebounds and going back up doesn't cancel his rim percentage. If anything, it cancels his missed rim FGA such that he's much more effective at the rim than the 63% rim efficiency suggests. I am well aware that JSJ had an amazing bench run at the end of the year. Tari's amazing run at the beginning of the season pulled him away from JSJ even taking age into account, IMO. JSJ's finish got him back into the race. I do find it funny that Tari as a starter (16 games) was better than JSJ as a starter, and JSJ off the bench (18 games) was better than tari off the bench.
Tari is also short, Jabari isn't and we need more height on this team not less. Amen, Cam and Brooks can play the same position as Tari - he is redundant. DD
